Fruit or vegetable basket



No. 622,92I. Patented Apr. ll, I899. B. B. FULLER.

FRUIT 0R VEGETABLE BASKET.

' (Applicatim; filed Dec. 18, 1898.)

(No Model.)

: norms PETERS $0., Pnu'ruuma, wnumamn. o. c.

NITED STATES PATE T OFFICE.

RUSSELL B. FULLER, or HOLLAND, MICHIGAN.

FRUIT OR VEGETABLE BASKET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 622,921, dated April 11, 1899. Application filed December 12, 1893. Serial No. 699,007. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RUssELL B. FULLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Holland, in the county of Ottawa and State of Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Fruit and Vegetable Baskets, (Case No. 1,) of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description.

My invention relates to the manufacture of baskets of the class used for packing small fruits. These baskets must be of light weight, of low cost, and properly ventilated, and yet of sufficient strength to hold the fruit during transportation anduntil placed in the hands of the consumer. Veneers have been largely used as a material in the construction of such boxes, an inner hoop being employed at the upper edge to give strength and serve as a support for the thin material constituting the body of the basket.

My invention herein relates particularly to the construction of fruit boxes or baskets of the general class in question; and it consists in the'special construction of the basket from a single blank or sheet of material, as herein described. I prefer to use sheets of veneer,

each box to be formed of a single piece of material. It is obvious, however,,that'other thin flexible material having sufficient strength and stiffness to keep its shape might be empl0yedas, for example, pasteboard.

My invention consists more particularly in the basket or box formed of a single piece of veneer or like material having at the lower angles slits constructed to cause an edge at each slit to project to form, so to speak, legs, which give a good support and aiford means of ventilation and facility for inspection of the fruit from below, the ends of the box being the folded flaps, which are integral with the main body of the box and secured together, preferably, by a single wire staple at each end of the basket. The flaps, as will bemore particularly described, are so cut and scored as to make each corner double thick. The scoring of the outer sheet forming the corner When left single has given great trouble, since exposure to moisture and again to heat,which dries out the moisture, will causethe veneer to break at the scoring. My construction is such that the inner scoring is covered by the outer layer or flap and is less liable to changes is, the cuts entirely through the sheet-and the scoringthat is, the cuts only partially through the sheet-the scoring being for the purpose of determining and facilitating the bending of the material into the shape required. Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrative of a complete basket or box embodying my invention.

Like parts are indicated by similar letters of reference in the different figures.

In Fig. 1 the scoring is indicated by dotted lines and the slits are indicated by full lines. The blank, as illustrated in Fig. 1, is provided at each end with three flaps, the central flaps a a extending from the central portion of the blank, While the flaps b I) extend from the side portion 0 thereof, and the flaps d d extend from the side or portion c. It will be observed that each of the side flaps is provided with a scoring (indicated, for example, by the dotted lines forming the triangular pieces f f,) while the inner flaps a a are provided with a scoring on each edge, as in dicated at g g. The slits about the central portion or bottom may be in the form shown that is to say, the slits h h are longitudinal and on opposite sides of the portion forming the bottom and symmetrically disposed. The slits 1, lo are-in like manner on opposite sides of the central portion and arranged syni'met rically. The blank being formed, as described, with slits and scorings, is placed over a former and folded as shown in Fig. 2, the staples being inserted as shown, thus forming a basket having the entire body thereof of a single sheet of veneer. The legs or pro jections Z Z m, it will be observed, are extensions from the main body of the basket and are brought to the desired position by the simple act of folding the blank. The flaps a a form the inner surface of the ends of the form of the double corners.

basket. The scorings g are made upon the outer surface and are covered by the flaps 1) cl 1) d. The basket thus formed is provided with double corners of two thicknesses. These double corners, constructed as shown, reduce the length of the side pieces and, I find, add about one fifth to the carrying strength of the box., Boxes or baskets holding from five to ten pounds of fruits, like tomatoes or peaches, when made according to my invention are of sufficient strength, such strength being enhanced by the V-shaped This has not to my knowledge before been accomplished by the use of veneers without strengthening the upper edges by hoops or by metal.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, the following:

1. As an article of new manufacture, a box or basket formed from a single integral sheet of veneering, provided with flaps, the flaps being scored to cause the same to form double corners when folded, the scoring 9 of the central flaps being covered by the side flaps, slits being out about the central portion as indicated at h h to form legs or supports m m, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a box or basket formed from a single integral sheet of pliable material, said sheet being slit and scored to form side and end pieces, the central part of said sheet forming the bottom, the edges of said side and end portions overlapping one another at the corners to make the box of double thickness at the corners, and angular slits being cut at intervals around the central portion, as indicated to form legs or supports extending from the end or side pieces, and leaving openings at the edges of the bottom for ventilation and inspection.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a box or basket formed from a single integral sheet of wood, said sheet being slit and scored to form side and end pieces, and three-sided slits 2' cut at intervals around the central portion, whereby legs or supports are formed as continuations of the end portions and openings left in the bottom for ventilation, substantially as setforth.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 8th day of December, A. D. 1898.

RUSSELL B. FULLER.

Witnesses GEORGE P. BARTON, MARGARET M. HEAVENER. 

